School Fee Funding News

The power of choice: Why schools must give customers the freedom to pic ‘n’ mix if they wish to secure customer loyalty and brand awareness........

- 2 is always better than 1 -
    Since Orchard Funding Ltd entered the school fee funding market in 2017, choice has been at the centre of their proposition.
  • Choice of offering fee funding direct to the public or through a school partner.
  • Choice of secured or non-secured funding.
  • Choice to receive funds early or later to help drive down price.
  • Choice of working capital or asset funding.

It is a perfect time for schools to consider the same approach and receive an unexpected and welcomed benefit by doing so.

    So what’s the key message to schools?
  • Simply put, give parents choice and let them decide which finance provider best suits their requirements.
regulatory protection

This approach also has an added advantage to the school - Regulatory Protection

There have been a number of published articles which have highlighted the risk of Institutions falling foul of consumer regulation, often it’s because they only offer 1 finance provider to their customers.

The risk as far as the FCA are concerned is this may be too close for comfort and could be deemed as recommending credit which requires a credit brokerage licence. Failure to have license when one is required is a criminal offence?

Yes, a criminal offence! Why take the risk?

As far back as 2013 Farrer and Co published a paper directed at the Education sector talking about this very point. The problem is, schools have had no choice to offer their parents - until now.

By using more than 1 provider it offers a safety net for schools when it comes to the “recommending” point.

The FCA agrees that by offering choice to parents the risk of breaching the consumer credit licencing requirements is reduced, because parents ultimately decide on which provider best suits their needs as opposed to only having 1 option to choose from.

angus harper, bursar at homefield prep school says,

Angus Harper, Bursar at Homefield Prep School says,

“Parents enjoy the monthly option but we have not been comfortable just having one product advertised on our web site. Due to this it has impacted the availability of the scheme to our parents - until now. With Orchard Funding offering very similar products we can now let our parents make up their own mind and we plan on having web banners for both Orchard Funding and School Fee Plan available to our parents”.

    So what are you waiting for?

    To add Orchard alongside your existing third party facility is easy and very quick to implement.

  • Complete the online application here.
  • Add the web banner to your web site.
  • Let parents know that there is an alternative.

That’s it - simple, quick and effortless......

Who is Orchard Funding?

Orchard is part of the Orchard Funding Group PLC. Listed on the London Stock Exchange, the Group has been offering niche financial products since 2002 and currently is a market leader in the professions and insurance finance markets. Orchard is motivated to develop the limited solutions in this sector and already has a number of schools signed up to use its facility.


For more information contact Orchard Funding on 01582 310175 or email at schools@orchardfunding.co.uk

orchard funding